Colombian president gives military special powers

Associated Press

Published Friday, March 01, 2002

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Andres Pastrana expanded the military's powers Thursday in a vast southern region as rebels intensified their campaign to bomb Colombia into darkness by sabotaging power stations.

Pastrana's decree, which falls just short of martial law, takes immediate effect in 19 towns in six states. It gives the army authority to register civilians, impose curfews, set roadblocks, regulate businesses' hours of operation and order them to remain open. If mayors object, they can appeal to the president, who would have final word.

The newly declared "Theater of Operations" encompasses a former rebel safe haven and extends to just 45 miles south of the capital, Bogota, where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has plans to attack electricity and other infrastructure targets, according to a reputed rebel conversation over two-way radio.

"You've got to hit them with everything, so everything falls: bridges, electrical towers, the reservoir," a rebel commander who goes by the nom de guerre Romana was heard telling another guerrilla on Monday.

"You've got to deliver an urban blow, so the oligarchy feels the war," Romana said, according to a transcript of the intercepted conversation reported in the country's main newspaper, El Tiempo, on Thursday.

While rebel attacks have left many parts of Colombia without electricity, telephone or water service, this Andean capital of 7 million and other large cities have thus far been spared.

Though electric towers and a reservoir near Bogota have been attacked, officials have been able to maintain uninterrupted service.

Security has been stepped up, with army troops guarding bridges and reservoirs in the capital.

Meanwhile, two soldiers and eight guerrillas were killed in battles Thursday near the town of Chitaga, 185 miles east of Bogota, and in Narino state, in the south, the army said.

Also Thursday, a leading human rights group said it understood the reasons for extending military powers in light of heightened rebel attacks.

"It is clear that we're living through extraordinary times in Colombia, and certainly the government has the responsibility to ensure that the law is upheld," said Robin Kirk, of Human Rights Watch.

One week after the government broke off peace talks and launched a military offensive into the rebels' former safe haven, evidence of military successes was scant.

The government ceded the huge swath of land to the FARC as a peace gesture four years ago, but reclaimed the zone Feb. 20 after the FARC hijacked a civilian airliner and kidnapped a senator.

Military commanders said it was too dangerous for ground troops to do a body count of rebels killed in aerial bombardments. Gen. Hector Fabio Velasco, the head of the Colombian Air Force, also said the military has located several top FARC commanders.

"We know where they are, in various locations and not all in the former safe haven, but capturing them will require some time, and patience," Velasco said in a radio interview.

He said Colombia would have to fight the rebels on its own, at least for now. U.S. military aid is mostly limited to counternarcotics missions and Washington has not granted Colombian requests to lift the restrictions.

"We have not received one bullet or one bomb from the Americans," Velasco said.

The U.S. State Department said Thursday it is in close consultation with the Colombian government and members of the U.S. Congress on ways to assist the South American country as its civil war enters a new and bloodier phase.

Rebels blew up transmission towers and electrical substations overnight Wednesday and early Thursday, cutting electrical power to Casanare state in eastern Colombia, and to the 39,000 residents of the city of Arauca, in northeast Colombia's Arauca state. The rebels also derained a coal train in northern Magdalena state, according to news reports.

Since rebels began attacking the country's infrastructure, they have exploded about 70 electrical transmission towers and tried to sabotage reservoirs that supply water to Bogota. There have been power outages in the states of Caqueta, Cauca, Caldas, Boyaca, Guajira and Meta.